Thana Faroq

Discussing topics of home and belonging is exhausting. Each one of the women I photograph is in the process of creating a sense of belonging or “feeling home”, and each of these creations is being done differently and unsystematically. These experiences are often ambiguous, as there are a lot of transitions in their relationships with the “new”. Family separation, divorce, absence of intimacy, having children, seeking jobs, completing education, falling apart, depression, loneliness - these change our priorities, our concerns and expectations, all of which affect, and are affected by, emotional processes. I can’t seem to relate to any singular theme or definition. Home might be in the memory, or, sometimes, it doesn’t exist. We fall out of place, and, very often, we are stranded in-between places, and in between homes, between war zones. photo was taken in the Hague the Netherlands

photo was taken in the Hague the Netherlands

Marwa from Yemen currently a refugee in the Netherlands

Marwa from Yemen currently a refugee in the Netherlands. photo was taken in the Hague the Netherlands

I spent the last year documenting the aftermath that occurs after finding new soil to step safely upon. Physical belongings may not be ours anymore, but the emotional baggage that comes from the situational and physical process of relocation comes for free; sponsored by life itself. We are in a kind of archaeological restoration programme, where we try to build and construct a new life over the ruins of our past losses. Our homes are under construction. Our bodies are under construction. Our finances are under construction.The paradigm of who we are consists of shifting waters and our quest is in the search for blue skies. Of finding shelter, not only in the security of a home, but belonging under the vast open sky. Sara, left Afghanistan a year ago, currently lives in the Netherlands

Finding poetry in survival photo was taken in the Hague the Netherlands. photo was taken in the Hague the Netherlands

Rebirth. photo was taken in the Hague the Netherlands

Rebirth. photo was taken in the Hague the Netherlands

Nour from Syria currently a refugee in the Netherlands.

As part of my practice, I adopted this approach to working with my participants in that I regularly return to them to continue sharing our journey. Many of these migrants, stateless individuals were with me during my transitional period from Yemen to the Netherlands. Hellen is one of them, she was with me for the past three years first in my book and now in my new project about the emotional interior landscape of women migrants in the Netherlands. There is something magical about this visual continuation with the women I photograph. The act of creating becomes therapeutic and investigative. Through the making of portraiture, and playing with the physicality of the image itself, a woman's gaze can be read as a mode of self-surveillance. Hellen and other women in this journey provide me with all these insights. Hellen grew up between Ethiopia, Eretria, and Sudan. Having lived as a stateless person her entire life made her way to the Netherlands as an asylum seeker. I asked her once if the Netherlands was her final destination.

The concept of home is salient to migrant consciousness generally, and particularly to my women and me who are still navigating our way through space. Our experiences of landscapes here in the Netherlands are shaped in part by memories accumulated through everyday experiences: our struggles to settle in, to fit in, and to “integrate”. Sometimes, we have dark thoughts, that we no longer have memories of childhood or places left behind. To me, memory is a way to construct a sense of temporal belonging. We want to remember things to create different ways of feeling at home, feeling safe, feeling whole. photo was taken in the Hague the Netherlands

Kimya Left her home Iran 4 years ago, currently a refugee in the Netherlands. photo was taken in the Hague the Netherlands

Kimya Left her home Iran 4 years ago, currently a refugee in the Netherlands. photo was taken in the Hague the Netherlands

Karol from Syria currently a refugee in the Netherlands. photo was taken in the Hague the Netherlands

A huge challenge in this project is to define and understand who we are, and it's tougher when you have to decide how to assemble yourself and if change has a word in the saying. How to evolve and not lose identity, or if you want to lose it, how do you define what you would be next? These emotional battles are part of the evolving process of continuous change that these women confront to find themselves again in a land that, with hope, could give them a chance to think of a peaceful future for themselves and their families. Photo of Karol. photo was taken in the Hague the Netherlands

still photo from my film imagine me like a country of love

still photo from my film imagine me like a country of love

still photo from my film imagine me like a country of love

still photo from my film imagine me like a country of love

still photo from my film imagine me like a country of love